Companies and Markets

The department of telecom (DoT) will seek Rs 2,100 crore bank guarantee this month from Idea Cellular as one-time spectrum charge before its union with Vodafone is cleared, as per the latest M&A guidelines.

Mutual fund houses are trying hard to meet the June 30 deadline for adhering to Sebi guidelines on categorisation and rationalisation of schemes, but execution is a big challenge as portfolios are being reset.

Post-categorisation and rationalisation of mutual fund schemes, investors will have more clarity and they can pick and choose what they want. At present, it’s all about getting used to new fund categories and names, both for distributors and investors.

The economic growth in January-March period of 2017-18 surged to 7.7 per cent, the highest since a painful demonetisation and chaotic GST rollout. The figure surpassed China’s growth rate of 6.8 per cent in the same period, confirming India as the fastest growing major economy.

The domestic market ended the day with small losses in a highly volatile session of trade. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 43.13 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 34,906, the Nifty 50 index ended 18.95 points or 0.18 per cent lower to settle at 10,614.35. Markets across the globe were impacted by Italy's political crisis and fresh fears of a trade war between US and China.

The finance ministry is unperturbed over FPIs pulling out more than Rs 27,000 crore funds from the Indian stock markets. It says domestic funds of banks, insurance companies and pension funds have made more than the amount withdrew primarily due to surging global crude prices.

According to the latest depository data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) withdrew Rs 7,819 crore from equities and another Rs 18,950 crore from the debt market during May 2-25, taking the total outflows to Rs 26,769 crore ($4 billion).

The busy schedule at NCLAT on Wednesday also included hearing appeals against Tata Steel’s acquisition of debt-ridden Bhushan Steel and Vedanta’s bid for Electrosteel.

With respect of Bhushan Steel, NCLAT asked Tata Steel if it will clear the statutory dues like income tax and GST of the insolvent entity. Tata Steel’s acquisition of Bhushan Steel has been challenged by the latter’s founder Singal family and the firm's operational creditor Larsen and Toubro.

Reliance Communication (RCom) on Wednesday settled Swedish telecom networking company Ericsson's dues, while its asset sales to Reliance Jio got NCLAT’s nod marking its exit from the wireless business completely. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has also halted bankruptcy proceedings ordered two weeks ago against the debt-laden company.

On Tuesday, RCom had offered an upfront payment of Rs 500 crore to its operational creditor Ericsson, which had got an insolvency order against the Anil-Ambani led group.

Auto, FMCG and farm equipment stocks have seen huge buying interest as investors bet on improving rural demand on the back of higher minimum support prices (MSP), expectation of a favourable monsoon and rising rural disposable income boosting consumption demand.

Months after serious charges of conflict of interest emerged against its MD& CEO Chanda Kochhar (in pic), ICICI Bank on Wednesday ordered an independent enquiry into the allegations raised by an anonymous whistleblower. Kochhar faces the accusation of “quid-pro-quo” in her dealing with Videocon group. The ICICI Bank board’s decision follows market regulator Sebi’s show-cause notice to Kochhar for alleged violation of disclosure requirements under securities law in the same case.